Pubdate: Fri, 27 Oct 2006
Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN)
Copyright: 2006 The Leader-Post Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/regina/leaderpost/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361
Author: Norma Greenaway, CanWest News Service

VERDICT UP IN SMOKE

Marijuana Crusader Wins Appeal

OTTAWA -- A medical marijuana crusader from Alberta will get a new 
trial on drug charges after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled 
unanimously Thursday the judge in his 2003 trial had reduced the 
jury's role to a "ceremonial" one.

In a 7-0 judgment, the top court said Grant Krieger of Calgary was 
deprived of his "constitutional right" to a trial by jury when the 
judge in the case directed the jury to find the accused guilty of 
possession of marijuana for the purposes of trafficking. It quashed 
Krieger's conviction and ordered a new trial by jury.

"The trial judge's direction was not a 'slip of the tongue,' " 
Justice Morris Fish wrote on behalf of the court. "His purpose and 
words were clear. In effect, the trial judge reduced the jury's role 
to a ceremonial one."

Krieger said he was overjoyed by the ruling, and the prospect of a new trial.

Krieger, who uses marijuana to help cope with his multiple sclerosis, 
said he is confident a "jury of his peers" will find him not guilty 
of the charges.

"I'm walking in the same steps as Henry Morgentaler was walking over 
abortion and female issues," he said in an interview from Calgary. 
"I'm doing the same thing for the sick, injured and dying on the 
cannabis issue."

Krieger, 51, was charged in 1999 after police seized 29 marijuana 
plants from his Calgary home.

A jury acquitted him after a 2001 trial, but the verdict was quashed 
by the Alberta Court of Appeal.

In 2003 Krieger was tried again. He confessed to providing marijuana 
to others in medical need, but defended his actions on grounds that 
he had no choice other than to break the law to ensure a reliable 
supply of pot for patients who have a federal exemption for marijuana use.

Before leaving the court room, the judge directed the jurors to 
convict, and said they were "bound to abide by that direction." He 
later rejected two jurors requests to be excused on religious grounds 
and grounds of conscience. The jury subsequently returned with a 
guilty verdict.

This verdict was upheld in the Alberta Court of Appeal. Although it 
said trial judge Paul Chrumka made a mistake in ordering the jury to 
convict, it said a new trial would result in the same verdict. Chief 
Justice Catherine Fraser dissented, which meant the case was 
automatically put to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court ruling confirmed what Fish cited as the 
well-established notion that juries have the power to refuse to apply 
the law when their consciences permit no other course.

John Hooker, Krieger's lawyer, had argued the Supreme Court had 
formally recognized the option of so-called jury nullification in a 
1988 ruling that upheld the jury acquittal of abortion doctor Morgentaler.

Hooker said the top court would have delivered a devastating blow to 
the role of juries in the Canadian judicial system if it had upheld 
the guilty verdict.

"Now, I think it's an absolute given that everyone has the right to 
put his case before the people, the jury," he said in an interview.

Hooker said he expects a new trial can begin within the next four or 
five months.

Since his arrest, Krieger has become an outspoken activist, and was 
recently convicted in Alberta provincial court of two new drug 
trafficking charges. His sentencing is slated for February.
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